Again, Torts took him to a very high mountain and showed him Nationwide and all its splendor.

"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will lay down and block for me." -Jackets 15:16

A LASTCAR/Kidc/CBJ collaboration.

What is NASCAR?
Founded and operated by the France family, also owners of International Speedway Corporation (ISC; as I found out on hold with them, “the world’s premier motorsports entertainment company”), the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing was formed in 1948 by Bill France, Sr., who wanted an organized set of rules for his grassroots racing series. In the 1970s, he passed the torch to his son, Bill Jr., who led NASCAR through a meteoric rise into the American mainstream. The torch was again passed to his son, Brian, in 2004, and it...didn’t go as well. Brian has proceeded to drunkenly plow his Porsche through NASCAR, continuing to make changes many fans hate in an effort to run with the NFL. We now have Franchises, Sudden Death Overtime, the Playoffs and March Madness, Game 7, a Stadium, and even a shot clock, all in the face of dropping ratings and dwindling attendance causing NASCAR to tear down sections of grandstands so they can say “Look! A sellout again!”.

Despite this, there’s a lot to like about this sport. Much of the stupidity you’ll read about through the OP isn’t the fault of the drivers or teams, very much worth pulling for. There are a number of personalities, ranging from fun guys like Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart, underdogs like Martin Truex, Jr., and (if it’s your type) competitive heels like Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski. There’s a new aero package which will hope to improve the quality of racing. And there’s a place to talk about it with like-minded individuals. Welcome to SASCAR.

We’ll talk in this OP in the most detail about the Sprint Cup Series, the premier division of NASCAR. Get caught up on current events and learn more about Cup below!

2015 Summary-ChaMpion*-

quote:

“Kyle Busch, who missed 11 races because ISC cheaped out on the SAFER barriers and he got hurt in a race he shouldn’t even really have been in, was given an exemption to allow him to make the Chase if he won and finished Top 30 in points. He did it easily with four wins and can reeeeeeeeeeeally make this the most bullshit playoff system in sports!”

This reeeeeeeally happened. As you might expect, NASCAR was more than thrilled with this, blissfully ignoring the fact that their CHAMPION! didn’t run all the races, but PLAYOFFS and DRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMA.-The Drive for Five is Alive Dead: Four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon retired following 2015, with 93 wins in 797 career starts, good for 3rd on the all-time list until Jimmie fucks it up. The Daytona 500 will be the first Sprint Cup points race without Gordon in the field since November 1, 1992. (Gordon’s manager is expecting him to moonlight somewhere in sports car racing in the next couple years, with the Rolex 24, Le Mans, and/or Sebring rumored to be possible appearances.)-Quintessential NASCAR: During the Chase, Joey Logano turned Matt Kenseth out of the lead at Kansas. Looking for retribution, Kenseth, multiple laps down due to a wreck at Martinsville, wrecked the poo poo out of him right back. It was later said Kenseth had planned to wreck JoLo at Martinsville if at all because it would allow Joey two more races to try to advance to the final round. This premeditation put NASCAR into the precarious position of promoting their playoffs while not devolving completely into bloodsport. “Quintessential NASCAR”, uttered by Brian France to praise the hard racing at Kansas, became both a meme and a term used in a pejorative manner (even by the sport’s media) toward literally everything in this sport.-Dropped Call: It was announced that 2016 will be the final season for Sprint as title sponsor of NASCAR’s top series. No replacement has been named, but it’ll be interesting to see who ponies up the money NASCAR will ask for the privilege.-Throwback Sunday: I don’t get to say this often, but NASCAR did something very right. They moved Darlington’s Southern 500 back to its traditional Labor Day weekend date, and did it go well. NASCAR and its teams went all out with a “throwback” theme, complete with over 30 retro paint schemes, and NBC handing the race broadcast to legendary commentators Ken Squier and Ned Jarrett for about 100 laps. It’s believed there’ll be a repeat this year. Dale Jr. is already talking about a Buddy Baker “Grey Ghost” tribute scheme.-Pushback: Following in the footsteps of the Race Team Alliance, the drivers themselves publicly aligned against NASCAR last season. Once upon a time, this was something literally punishable by death, but realizing that might dent their image in the modern world, NASCAR instead caved and held a series of meetings regarding their issues with, and hopes and concerns for the sport.

*Michael McDowell and Ty Dillon are splitting time in the #95 car in 2016, which between both drivers will run the whole season. Leavine Family Racing has merged with Circle Sport and will run Richard Childress equipment in at least some of those races. McDowell drives the Open #59 at Daytona.
**Bobby Labonte is expected to run 4 races in the #32 starting with the Daytona 500 with rookie Jeffrey Earnhardt running most of the remaining 32 events.
***Tony Stewart was injured in an ATV accident on February 2 and will be relieved by Brian Vickers and Ty Dillon for the first few races of 2016. Vickers will run during SpeedWeeks.

Boldfaced drivers indicate one of the 36 chartered teams at the start of 2016 season. The charter team roster is subject to change based on the team’s performance in 2016.
+The #41 and #19 purchased charters from the defunct Michael Waltrip Racing #15 and #55.
++The #46 leased the charter owned by Premium Motorsports’ #98 (formerly the #62 in 2015), meaning Premium’s car is now an Open team.
+++Matt DiBenedetto will race the Open #93 in the Daytona 500, but will run the chartered #83 for the rest of the season. Michael Waltrip is locked-in with the #83 for the 500.

-The Chase is NASCAR’s version of the PLAYOFFS Y’ALL, and we were told as much last year by NBC and NASCAR who apparently really want the “Playoffs” qualifier added to the name. It debuted in 2004 and, after having three previous formats, NASCAR landed on its fourth format in 10 years in 2014: NASCAR Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, which has 16 drivers, whittled down elimination-style every three races until the Final Four completely throw the points system out the window in favor of a “Highest Finisher In This One Race Takes All” showdown at Homestead. All three top series will have this format for the first time in 2016. Here's a visual breakdown:

-NASCAR is very liberal with the application of the rules, granting exemptions where it sees fit to make this as exciting as possible. Case in point, last year’s champ, Kyle Busch. We’re still waiting on how NASCAR gimmicks Danica into the Chase.

-2016 Storylines
- LASTSEASON - After three Sprint Cup championships and two dirt track races he’d rather forget, Tony Stewart is hanging it up after 2016 - so he can run more dirt races. Unfortunately, this last ride will be delayed, as Stewart was injured in February while ATVing in the sand dunes with Jeff Gordon, sort of like Napoleon Dynamite's grandma. He's expected to return in May, with a replacement driver TBA (though it won't be Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, or probably Jeff Gordon). Smoke will be replaced in 2017 by Clint Bowyer, who this year replaces Justin Allgaier in a one-off season for HScott Motorsports.
- DODGE CHARTERS - The Race Team Alliance locked in 36 Charter (Franchise) entries among its members while reducing the fields to 40, leaving just 4 spots instead of 7 for the plebs to fight over. The agreement seeks to stagnate the series roster for the next five years to coincide with NASCAR’s five-year agreement with current tracks on the schedule. Furniture Row Racing was the last holdout, but is now a Charter RTA member and is planning both a switch to Toyota and an expansion to two cars in 2016, with the second in a limited effort likely with Erik Jones.
- SHAVE AN INCH OFF YA - While insisting the racing has never been better, NASCAR experimented with two different aero packages last summer - a low downforce setup at Kentucky and Darlington and a high drag package at Indianapolis and Michigan. The latter failed miserably while the first wasn’t bad, and this time NASCAR decided to go with what worked best. Look for Ford - especially Penske - to get an edge on the new package. Likely in response to the aero change, Ford redesigned the nose of the 2016 Fusion so that it resembles the 1998 Taurus.
- OOH, THE CHASE - Last year, Chase Elliott wrecked in his Cup debut at Martinsville, Ryan Blaney blew an engine in nearly all his starts with the Wood Brothers, Brian Scott continued to hit everything but the pace car, and Jeffrey Earnhardt finished laps down a few times for Go Green Racing. This year, all four will contend for what the media insists is still “the strongest rookie class EVAR.” The group is notable for a number of reasons: Chase will become the first driver to race the #24 in Cup since Butch Gilliland at Phoenix in November 1992, Blaney will usher in the Wood Brothers’ first full-time season since 2007, Scott brings the #44 back to RPM for the first time since 2009, and Earnhardt brings in part-time sponsorship from Can-Am for the underfunded #32. The potential dark horse of the group is its fifth member - defending XFINITY Series champ Chris Buescher, who had a quietly consistent series of start for Front Row Motorsports. This year, Buescher takes the helm of FRM’s flagship #34.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series is NASCAR’s spiritual equivalent of AAA baseball or the American Hockey League (AHL). I say “spiritual” because you don’t see A-Rod or Alex Ovechkin in the lower leagues, yet Kyle Busch/Logano/Keselowski often win most of the races. Xfinity is an unusual place where a series regular can have a really solid season in spite of dealing with these Cup drivers, and still get fired (see Regan Smith, 2015).

Buschwacker- Sprint Cup drivers who cherry pick wins from lower series regulars (a mix of up-and-comers and drivers who have washed out of Cup but carve a niche for themselves here). It’s always been an issue but, since 2004, it’s run rampant. NASCAR seems very hesitant to curb it because Kyle supposedly sells tickets or some bullshit. Only 8 races were won by “regulars” last season (some by a driver who had to share a car with Cup guys), more than usual- there were years in the late 2000s where three races were won by full-timers. NASCAR, predictably, did nothing about this this year except ban Cup drivers from NXS and Truck finales (whoopee...), and so I, CBJ, will continue to track who the best regular each race is through #NXSBestInClass; nobody probably cares, but I’m doing it anyway.

In case you missed it in the graphic above, NASCAR will now have a Chase system in this and the soon-to-be-described Truck Series because everyone likes the Chase so well! NXS will feature 12 drivers (Trucks 8), eliminated over three rounds in multiples of four (Trucks, multiples of 2) until we get to the final four. NASCAR has decided that drivers who qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup will not be eligible for the season-ending race at Homestead. Not the entire season, because eradicating the drivers who win most of the races in a “winning means everything” system would have made too much sense, but the last race only. I am very, very much not a fan of this development; your mileage may vary.

Another new wrinkle for Xfinity this year involves four Dash 4 Cash races. D4C itself has been around a few years and is like the old No Bull 5 seen in Sprint Cup, only the driver just has to be the best of the eligible drivers to win $100,000, not win the race, a fitting format because lol a regular wins an NXS race. Two Dash 4 Cash wins will be counted as the equivalent of one race win for Chase eligibility, because lol a regular wins an NXS race. The twist comes in the form of heat races, which will determine the starting lineup for each of the main events. The heat race concept is fun, but NASCAR can’t go without loving SOMETHING up- according to PRN’s Jim Noble, backup cars or engine changes are not allowed once the heat race starts. In other words, wreck in the heat or have a problem and you’re out of the main, points-paying event. This may cause drivers to be overly conservative in the heats, thus neutering them. The Summer/Fall Richmond, Bristol, Dover, and Indianapolis races will be the four D4C events.

If you’re looking for a lower NASCAR series to watch, this is it. Unlike NXS, which generally isn’t great, the Camping World Truck Series still provides entertaining racing, and is the only series to make cookie cutter tracks fun. Pickup Trucks! Plus, we have our very own real life goon who posts in this thread that runs in the series! You can buy his t-shirts, hats, diecasts, and other merchandise at (This Space Intentionally Left Blank)!

NASCAR apparently thought this series could use an injection of Fun. So, they’ve done that by instituting this dumb poo poo!

That’s right, friends! NASCAR, long accused of and long denying throwing questionable cautions because of debris has not only indirectly admitted as much, but is now going to have regularly scheduled cautions to bunch up the field (except at Eldora)! At least they’re being honest.

ARCA Racing Series Presented by Menards
The ARCA Racing Series is a stock car series which is essentially the fourth rung on the NASCAR hierarchy. It's not a NASCAR series, but Bill France had a hand in its formation. ARCA stands for Automobile Racing Club of America and, as you might expect in club racing, there are some good drivers and some who might be best served making a career in iRacing. It’s also the only stock car series to not have a contrived, horseshit form of a championship system, so good on them. ARCA is also known as LOL ARCA. http://www.arcaracing.com

Lower/International Series
NASCAR K&N East, West, Whelen Modifieds, Weekly Series (), Whelen Euro (. , , ) NASCAR Pinty's Series (), and NASCAR Mexico () (despite sounding like sarcasm, the last three are real series), check out http://hometracks.nascar.com/.
Modifieds are fun and you should watch them. More on that in the NBC section to come.

Jeff Gordon, retired from driving, joins the FOX booth, for the first time in 15 seasons breaking up the Joy/McReynolds/Waltrip trio. Displaced is Larry Mac, who will have a fourth analyst role with FOX, sliding into Andy Petree's cubicle of solitude.

FOX continues its Buschwacker Aversion Program by having five Sprint Cup drivers rotate as guest analysts for NXS races. Dale Jr was rumored to be a part of this, but instead, Carl Edwards replaces Jeff Gordon, with the other four pile joining those from from last season returning. Larry McReynolds goes to the booth for the non-companion race at Iowa. Schedule here: http://www.foxsports.com/nascar/sto...-harvick-022016

NBC’s NASCAR package only covers Cup and NXS in the second half of the year, but includes full season tape-delayed K&N and Modified races, aired on NBCSN usually the Thursday after they ran. Check them out! Check listings.

ARCA:
Booth- Ray Dunlap, Jim Tretow
Pits- Charlie Krall

Everybody's favorite stock car series, LOL ARCA, aired live three times on CBS Sports Network in 2015, and has shifted to the American Sports Network this year with an expanded schedule. Don't get it? Yeah, me either; it's one of those over-the-air HD channels you get either with an antenna or through your cable provider. Good news is you can stream the ARCA races on this network online! They apparently showed Nashville and the first Salem race, but Toledo was first race I saw any promotion for. They'll also show Madison, Winchester, Berlin, the Illinois and DuQuoin State Fairgrounds events, and the Fall Salem race.

The Motor Racing Network (MRN) is the ISC-owned NASCAR radio network. They cover:
a) Sprint Cup and Xfinity races on ISC tracks and independent, non-ISC or SMI tracks
b) The Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte (in spite of it being SMI property).
c) All Truck races regardless of venue.
They also have NASCAR Live, a weekly call-in show hosted by Eli Gold, and several online-only radio shows covering NASCAR, sports cars, WoO, and drag racing.
Search here for the affiliate nearest you: http://www.mrn.com

There's a third, oft-forgotten radio partner in NASCAR, The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network. As you might expect, they cover Brickyard 400 weekend only. IMS broadcasts seem to be done in partnership with PRN, often featuring a mix of IMS and PRN on-air talent.

Pay for radio from space robits? SiriusXM Channel 90 is for you! SiriusXM NASCAR Radio has all races live, including an on-car display lap counter and Top 5 running order (and selected driver audio feeds on bonus channels), along with a slate of daily programming, which is as follows:
7AM-11AM- The Morning Drive (Mike Bagley, Pete Pistone). Never heard it.
11AM-3PM- Tradin' Paint (Jim Noble, Danny "Chocolate" Myers). PRN's Jim Noble is excellent and sometimes dares to argue some things in NASCAR aren't great. Fortunately, Chocolate Myers is there to keep Noble and the listeners in check. This is a good show, with Noble being a straight-shooter and much less patronizing to callers than:
3PM-7PM- SiriusXM Speedway (Dave Moody). Hear MRN's Dave Moody tell listeners how awesome things are in NASCAR these days! Disagree? You're probably an idiot. (Moody does deal with a massive number of morons on this show, to be fair, but Moody toes the company line hard.)
7PM-10PM (Mon-Tues)- Late Shift (Brad Gillie, Kenny Wallace). This show's usually pretty good but I didn't hear it often.
7PM-10PM (Wed-Fri)- Dialed In With Claire B. Lang.

CBJSprague24 fucked around with this message at Jun 10, 2016 around 23:17

Just watched a piece on Raceline with Steven Wallace, holy poo poo is that a different dude. He's running super late models now, admittedly with a great sponsor and top notch poo poo, but it's just him and his CC building the cars and running the ship and he seemed 1,000% more mature.

Tony Stewart is currently being hospitalized with an undisclosed back injury following a non-racing accident on Sunday. SHR representatives said that he can move all of his extremities and that there would be no further updates until Thursday.

The extremeties/no further updates combo sounds like it's pretty serious.